‘Hello, Garci’ officer returns to intel community

One of the key intelligence officers accused of wiretapping then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in 2004 is now back in harness. And guess what position he’s holding right now?

He’s with the office of the Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for intelligence (J2) as its Ex-O, or executive officer.

Army Col. Pedro Sumayo, a 1984 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, was the commander of MIG 21 (technical intelligence) of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp) during the May 2004 presidential elections.

Along with other key officers, Sumayo was accused of having been a part of a core Isafp surveillance team that wiretapped the conversations between Garcillano and Mrs. Arroyo, among other people.

Sumayo was implicated in 2005 by whistle-blower Air Force T/Sgt. Vidal Doble, who claimed that Sumayo was one of his two former superiors in Isafp’s “Project Lighthouse” operation. The operation wiretapped key political leaders involved in the 2004 presidential campaign, Doble said in his published testimonies.

Sumayo remained with Isafp at the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal but eventually went on military schooling. Last year, he was assigned in the Northern Luzon Command.

To find him back in the intelligence community—and in a unit that crafts intelligence advice for the AFP chief and the President—has raised not a few eyebrows in Camp Aguinaldo. Right under your noses, gentlemen?—Newsbreak

The late Justice Garchitorena said that “military intelligence” is a misnomer. Military has no intelligence.They are dumb, referring to soldiers and officers.

My favorite historian, Alfred W. McCoy wrote:

“After six coup atempts in five years, the colonels were further from power than ever before. During the late 1980s, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement had launched more coups with less success than any army anywhere. They had exhausted every option within the tactical canon of the coup d’etat – revolt of the generals, attack on the palace, assault on the capital, urban terrorism and rural revolt. All had failed.” (Closer than Brothers, p. 299).